Began a gloomy, humid morning with one of the earliest episodes of The Backyardigans. Uniqua is determined to prove that "Knights are Brave and Strong" when Queen Tasha sends her to deliver a message to King Austin. She has to get through the Misty Moose (Tyrone), the Guard at the Gate (Pablo), and the Swamp of Stinkyness in order to earn her own knight's hat with a pink feather.
I spent the rest of the morning working on my fanfic. While Scott's been traveling with the acting troupe, Betty's been getting soil samples with help from her friend, lawyer Doug Thompson. She likes Doug, but she's been wondering about Scott. She sees a poster for the troupe and remembers her discussion with Scott and having seen him at the show, and wonder if he's found what happened with his mother. Doug's not happy, but she asks him to see the show after she gets the reports on the land. She thinks Scott could help her figure out what Pruitt's up to...and she might be able to help him...
Work was the same as it has been the past month - quiet most of the day. I spent the afternoon working on story ideas. It cleared out even more once it started raining around 3 PM. I suspect we only had customers at all because we're getting very close to the beginning of the month. It was so quiet, I was able to shut down without a relief at the height of rush hour - they sent the college kid who was supposed to go in for me elsewhere.
It was still raining when I got out of work. I waited ten minutes, but it wasn't slowing down. I finally just rode home and got wet. Ironically, it did finally end about a half-hour or so after I got in.
Made a tasty, simple turkey-pasta-vegetable salad for dinner. It was just canned turkey, cooked whole-wheat pasta, and whatever sliced veggies I had in my fridge - one of the cucumbers, onion, the last of the cherry tomatoes. Topped it with a dressing of red wine vinegar, spicy mustard, and olive oil, and some onion seasoning. Yum, yum. Simple and savory and very summery.
Watched Maleficent while I ate. The title character is reworked as an anti-hero in this unusual take on Sleeping Beauty. Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) was in love with Stefan when they were children. When she leads her forest creatures in defeating his king, Stefan steals the things she prizes most in order to take over the kingdom. Angry and vengeful, she takes her anger out on his daughter Aurora (Elle Fanning), cursing her to fall into a sleep that can only be awoken by true love. Like Elsa in Frozen, Maleficent discovers there's more than one type of true love in the world when she helps the other fairies keep an eye on the child as she grows up, and almost against her will, becomes fond of the girl. Now she has to find a way to help break her own curse, before the girl who has melted her heart is gone from her life forever.
Maybe it's because I always liked the original Sleeping Beauty, but I wasn't crazy about this one. I just like Maleficent better as a flat-out villain and didn't find her arc or her feelings for Aurora to be that believable. Wasn't fond of how they played the other three fairies as idiots, either. It was no fault of Jolie's - she was fine as the title dark woods creature. I also found the anti-war and environmental messages to be laid on a tad thick. The reason to see this one, besides Jolie, is the special effects. The fairies' world in particular is amazing, filled with colorful, detailed creatures. I also liked Maleficent's crow friend, who here takes on a variety of shapes and has a couple of nice comic scenes with Jolie.
If you're a huge Disney fan or Jolie fan who is willing to take a fresh look at one of their more famous villains, this is worth a rental for the amazing effects work alone.
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